Hot Takes? 🤭

It might be the name of a Latin American junk food, but Marinela (mar-ee-nehl-ah) would make for a gorgeous name. It’s like a frillier [name_f]Marina[/name_f].

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Wait, it is?

Maybe it’s because my sister is [name_f]Caity[/name_f], but I do not care about people spelling names how they want (to an extent). So you like [name_f]Haylee[/name_f] better than [name_f]Hailey[/name_f]? Good for you. Now when we get start getting into MacKynleighs then I’m going to start side-eyeing you… but NB is too uptight about spelling a lot of the time I think.

Also random UO but I can’t stand [name_u]Arlo[/name_u] - it sounds and looks simultaneously infantile and pretentious to me.

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It’s a brand of junk food to be specific.

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I can agree. [name_f]My[/name_f] mother preferred [name_m]Erik[/name_m], but ultimately chose [name_m]Eric[/name_m] as she thought I wouldn’t be corrected. People almost always ask me if it’s with a C or K or even CK these days despite being the most common spelling.

Some names have been around for centuries and have so many spellings already. I’ve seen [name_f]Catherine[/name_f], [name_f]Katherine[/name_f], [name_f]Catharine[/name_f], [name_f]Katharine[/name_f], [name_f]Katheryn[/name_f], [name_f]Kathryn[/name_f], Kathrynne, [name_f]Cathryn[/name_f], and who knows how many I haven’t seen.

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Oh, I guess you learn something every day! You’re right, though, it has a beautiful sound! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Nice to see you around again! It’s been a while.

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I can see that! It’s a delicate name. I used to feel the same way, but I read some books with Lilys in them and they were such sweet, but surprisingly tough characters that my feelings changed. However, I still agree with you that Lily has a very unassuming quality to her.

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I liked [name_f]Lily[/name_f] in my HP phase but now I agree it’s too childish. It feels like a very fan fiction-y name now, to the point where I can’t imagine it on a real person :grimacing:

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Personally I don’t mind [name_f]Lily[/name_f] but I prefer the [name_f]Lili[/name_f] spelling and that seems too whimsical for me at this point… I also don’t really like the associations that the flower has with virginity, whiteness, and purity
That being said there are many wonderful Lilys out there and these are just my own ramblings!

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my hot take -

while i understand why people describe some names as ā€œinfantileā€ or say that they ā€œwon’t age well,ā€ i don’t personally agree with that philosophy. i’m a huge fan of nicknames as full names, so maybe there is a bit of a bias here. however, i think the person holding the name determines how well it ages.

more musings

alsooo… i’ve seen this a few times and it really annoys me (i haven’t really seen anyone say this lately but i still want to point it out): ā€œpeople won’t take a ceo named (ex:) betty seriously, because her name won’t age well.ā€

i only ever see this argument applied to girl names, and never boy names, which sort of shows me that for the most part, people will always take a man seriously, but there are… requirements a woman needs to meet to have the same respect. (for example, one of those requirements is having a ā€œseriousā€ name) i’m sure no one would think twice of a ceo whose full name is freddie.

hopefully this makes sense; i was kinda just rambling my frustrations. i know that this is all part of a bigger issue in society, but i really wanted to share what i think.

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I definitely agree with this. I think your personality should be the determining factor to if you’re respected and taken seriously or not. Basing that on someone’s name is really unfair.

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yes omg!

i hate how ā€œinfantileā€ is pretty much only used on feminine names, and not masculine names, which ties into the degradation and infantilization of women in the real world. it disgusts me.

in addition, its infuriating to me that names have such a high role in determining stuff like this, like jobs. and not just the misogyny with ā€œinfantileā€, or really feminine names, but also the racism tied in around names frequently used in the [name_m]Black[/name_m] community, or names from other cultures, especially non-white cultures. i mean, its obvious how names that aren’t euro-centric are represented and appreciated (as in, they oftentimes aren’t) on this website, so amplify that several times and there’s the real world. an alexander would get a job over an aatmaja.

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yes! i feel like this is a point that really has to be made. the racism ingrained in our society’s culture is horrible.

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I understand why it coukd be wrong to say a name won’t age well, but as someone who was given a hyper feminine, nicknamey name: I don’t like it. It didn’t age on me, it doesn’t suit me, and I feel people don’t take me as seriously as they would if the full version (which i now go by socially) was my name. Because sure, little [name_u]Kitty[/name_u] may always and forever be a [name_u]Kitty[/name_u] by choice, but if she grows up and no longer feels like [name_u]Kitty[/name_u], she has [name_f]Kate[/name_f] or [name_u]Kit[/name_u] or [name_f]Kathy[/name_f], or even [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] to use, without a lot of legal hassle

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I agree with both criticisms made so far about ā€œinfantileā€ names.

Can someone reasonably criticize a name as being infantile? I think yes. If one’s name is Baby, Dolly, Lolly, etc., they may become a CEO someday, but these names are rather twee in my opinion and that’s a fine point to make. Just as it’s fine to say that a name is strong, frumpy, etc. There are names that might seem strange on an adult and there are names that might seem strange on a child.

However, I also agree that this criticism can be unfairly waged against predominantly female names and against names that we all know are associated with predominantly non-white communities.

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there are few names where the spelling makes as much of a difference to me as sybil and sibyl!

sybil is so darling and her spelling is so aesthetically pleasing, and then sibyl just looks awkward and unbalanced. i really love sybil, but i don’t like sibyl at all.

(same goes with cecily/cicely, although in this case the pronunciation changes a bit! something about the ci and the si throw me off, i think)

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I absolutely agree with both of these! [name_f]My[/name_f] other one is [name_u]Laurence[/name_u] and [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u]. I love the first spelling, but the other one puts me off of it!

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Same for [name_f]Elisabeth[/name_f] (:heart_eyes:) and [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] (:neutral_face:)

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Yes, I feel this way about [name_m]Lukas[/name_m] (:blue_heart:) vs. [name_m]Lucas[/name_m] (meh).

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